Maintenance

FCA Opens Parts Distribution Center in Va.

Fiat-Chrysler has opened its new Mopar parts distribution center in Winchester, Va., that will ship 9.2 million parts annually from a 400,000-square-foot facility, FCA has announced.

The $12.2 million center is the first of two Mopar distribution centers that will open in 2017. As one of 22 such facilities in North America, it will employ 70 workers over two shifts and serve more than 200 FCA dealers.

The parts center should assist with uptime for fleets by bringing needed parts closer to the market.

Maintenance

Citing the higher cost of crude oil, many major manufacturers of finished lubricant products increased prices from 5% to 8% in CY-2018. Plus, each model-year, more OEMs require the use of more expensive synthetic motor oils.

Higher commodity prices are putting upward pressure on fleet prices for replacement tires. National accounts are no longer as willing to absorb the majority of price increases, which are between 3%-8% on select tire lines.

Vincentric has begun offering more in-depth maintenance data as part of its automotive cost-of-ownership database covering more than 45,000 vehicles, the Bingham Farms, Mich.-based data provider has announced.

The solution combines Geotab hardware, which captures data from approximately 100 different truck sensors, and Uptake's software, to help provide fleets with precise insights into which components will fail and when.

General Motors has begun offering an extended bumper-to-bumper warranty to its customers that matches the time span of the powertrain warranty. The new bumper-to-bumper warranty is available on new vehicles purchased on or after Oct. 15 for the 2018 or 2019 model year.